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Beckham is AL Rookie of Month

Beckham is AL Rookie of Month

White Sox third baseman Gordon Beckham has gone from college star to award-winning professional player in just over a year.

On Tuesday, Major League Baseball announced that Beckham had been voted the July recipient of the Gillette presents American League Rookie of the Month Award.

"He's really seeing the ball real well," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "The best thing is that he is hitting the ball the opposite way. I think when he was struggling early, he tried to pull everything. Now, he's using the middle of the field to right field."

In 27 games during July, Beckham, 22, led all AL rookies with a .330 batting average, 32 hits, three home runs, 18 RBIs, 10 doubles and a .526 slugging percentage.
He also tied for the lead with 12 runs scored and had nine walks, three stolen bases and a .382 on-base percentage.

During the impressive month, he compiled 11 multi-hit games, including four consecutive multi-hit performances from July 11-18 and from July 27-30. In addition, he collected at least one RBI in 17 of his 27 games played during the month. In six games against the Twins, Beckham hit .500 with a home run, two doubles, five RBIs and four runs scored.

During a seven-game hitting streak from July 24-30, he hit .458 with two home runs, two doubles, six RBIs and three runs scored. He hit home runs in back-to-back games July 26 in Detroit and July 27 in Minnesota.

In 52 games since his promotion to the big leagues on June 4, Beckham already leads all AL rookies with a .311 batting average, 36 RBIs, a .486 slugging percentage and an on-base percentage of .374. He is tied for first among rookies with 17 doubles, and ranks second with 18 multi-hit games and 22 extra-base hits.

Last year, Beckham led Georgia to a second-place finish in the College World Series. He was the eighth overall selection in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft.